Underbelly Burger will close its Spring Branch location on Sunday, September 13, ending a four-year run for the fast-casual concept that James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Shepherd founded to make use of leftover ground beef from his steakhouse. The restaurant announced the closure itself, marking another retreat for a Houston restaurant group that has been shedding locations for two years.
The Spring Branch shop at 1222 Witte Rd. opened in November 2023, according to CultureMap Houston, inside an 8,400-square-foot redevelopment of a former auto repair warehouse that also housed Wild Oats and the sand-volleyball patio bar The Decoy, per The Real Deal. The property was redeveloped by MLB Capital Partners, and Todd Mason, a principal at the firm, was also an owner in Underbelly Hospitality — tying the Spring Branch landlord directly to the restaurant group's expansion, according to CultureMap's earlier coverage of the project.
Underbelly Burger's very first location opened at the Houston Farmers Market in January 2022, before the Spring Branch outpost followed nearly two years later. The menu leaned into Texas ranching, using beef from 44 Farms and Wagyu from R-C Ranch in Brazoria County, and included bacon sausage hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, a veggie burger and sidewinder fries, with chicken wings and tenders added later.
A Burger Born From Butchery Waste
The concept wasn't originally meant to be a standalone chain. The station's report notes Underbelly Burger began as a way to handle whole-animal butchery waste — steakhouse Georgia James produced roughly 250 pounds of excess ground beef per animal slaughtered, and the burger shop gave that surplus a home, according to the Houston Press.
Before the Spring Branch closure, Underbelly Burger quietly dropped the address of its Houston Farmers Market flagship from its social media accounts over the summer, without issuing any official statement about that location's status, per the same account. The Spring Branch closing announcement did not extend to the Farmers Market spot.
The Slow Unwinding of Underbelly Hospitality
Underbelly Burger's exit is the latest in a string of closures for Underbelly Hospitality, the restaurant group that grew out of Shepherd's original Underbelly. The company closed Wild Oats, its Texas comfort food concept, in September 2024, following the closures of Italian restaurant Pastore in March 2024 and Mexico City taqueria Comalito in June 2024 — both after less than a year in business, according to CultureMap's prior reporting on the group's contraction. Underbelly Hospitality also sold its flagship steakhouse, Georgia James, to the owners of Bari Ristorante in Regent Square during the summer of 2024. Georgia James is now the only one of Shepherd's restaurants still open.
The roots of the brand go back to March 2012, when Shepherd first opened Underbelly at 1100 Westheimer Rd. in Montrose. He ran it for six years before closing it in March 2018 to launch UB Preserv and Georgia James, according to Houstonia Magazine. That original Underbelly earned Shepherd the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef: Southwest award in May 2014, the first time a Houston chef had won the honor since 1992, per the Houston Chronicle.
Shepherd's Path Diverged From the Brand He Built
Shepherd himself left Underbelly Hospitality in June 2022, and his career since has moved in a very different direction than the restaurant empire bearing his name. He has devoted himself largely to raising money for the Southern Smoke Foundation, the nonprofit he co-founded in 2015 to provide emergency assistance and mental health services to hospitality workers. According to the Southern Smoke Foundation, the organization has distributed more than $16.5 million in direct emergency relief grants and funded over 11,000 no-cost mental health counseling sessions for food and beverage workers nationwide.
Shepherd has also stayed visible in food media. He hosted Eat Like a Local on KPRC-TV for three years, and the show won its second consecutive Lone Star Emmy Award in November 2025. He was also named Editor in Chef for Food & Wine magazine in 2024. Hoodline previously covered Shepherd's television work in a tamale-focused episode recap, and the Southern Smoke Foundation's mission has surfaced repeatedly in recent Houston hospitality fundraisers, including a rooftop grazing party and a weekly cold noodles fundraiser.
Spring Branch's Shifting Restaurant Scene
Underbelly Burger's closure lands amid a broader shakeup along the Spring Branch corridor. The 40-year-old Taqueria Cancun served its last late-night taco in March, while the sports-and-cocktails venue Long Point Social Club opened with 12 pickleball courts in August, reflecting the neighborhood's ongoing transition from older industrial and retail sites to new dining and entertainment concepts.
